Kirk St. Maur's Spirit of Lake Superior celebrates Anishinabe (Ojibwa, American Indian) culture through an interpretation based on illustrations and photographs from the Minnesota Historical Society Archives, Eastman Johnson's drawings and paintings documenting mid-19th century Indian life on the lake's north shore, and consultation with Ojibwa elders. The girl is wearing old style puckered moccasins and carries a birch bark tray for winnowing wild rice. St. Maur, who lives in Payson, Illinois, is internationally recognized for his naturalistic, often heroic, themes in sculpture, and among his many commissions is a major work for the Church of San Michele, Buriano, Italy. At the edge of the platform, a large anchor chain links to Duluth's shipping heritage: in June 1973, four area scuba divers led by Elmer Engman recovered a kedge anchor and a 60 foot length of anchor chain from 70 feet beneath Lake Superior's surface. The anchor and chain had been attached to the whaleback steamer Thomas Wilson, which sank in a freak collision with the steamer George Hadley less than a mile straight out from the ship canal on a calm morning in 1902. Heavily laden with iron ore, the Wilson sank in minutes after being struck and dove bow first to the bottom, carrying nine crew members to their deaths. The Wilson rests on an even keel on the lake bottom while modern ships many times her size pass directly above, and the anchor is displayed outdoors at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center by the ship canal. A whaleback steamer, the Meteor, can be seen at Barker's Island across the bay in Superior, Wisconsin.
